Meet Russ Ladd: our Director of Backend Development, blends cutting-edge tech expertise with an eclectic passion for cats, cars, and curating captivating collections.
Meet Russ Ladd, an exceptional software developer and the current Director of Backend Development at Tranztec. With a career spanning nearly a decade at the company, Russ has become an indispensable member of the team, renowned for his technical prowess, innovative problem-solving, and leadership skills. Beyond his work on optimizing and architecting complex backend systems, Russ is a mentor and collaborator who elevates those around him. Whether tackling challenging projects or enhancing the performance of Tranztec's platform, his contributions have been crucial to the company's success. We asked our Director of Frontend Development, Zach Compton, to say a few words about his counterpart. "Russ is a remarkable software developer whose expertise and breadth of knowledge make him an invaluable asset to our team. He's always ready to dive into tricky problems and come up with smart and creative solutions. Russ is not only a technical powerhouse but also a supportive and collaborative teammate. His knack for optimizing performance have significantly elevated our team's capabilities. Working with Russ is a privilege, and his contributions are vital to the ongoing success of our projects in building our platform."
Join us as we delve into the professional journey, personal interests, and everyday life of this remarkable tech professional.
Tranztec:
Thank you for joining us Russ. Congratulations on being the June Driving Success recipient and happy birthday!
Russ Ladd:
Yes, see add to the torture.
Tranztec:
Always our first question, what is your title?
Russ:
Director of Backend Development
Tranztec:
And how long have you been at Tranztec?
Russ:
Gosh, it was 2015, so nine years.
Tranztec:
Russ, were you the first new person in our new building?
Russ:
I believe. So, yeah, it was, like, the month after you guys moved into that building.
Tranztec:
Nice. Will you walk us through kind of like, what your day to day is as director of backend development web?
Russ:
Yeah, so probably the most common thing is just you know, doing the web backend. So I'm one of the things I do is try to keep a monitor on, you know, how healthy is our back end, how our ramps. You know, keep monitoring that stuff. So that's one of the things I do. Then, kind of the main thing is the planning and architecture of things that are, you know, that we're working on for the backend stuff, and then either implementing those myself, or, you know, they get handed off to one of our teammates. And then if they have any, you know, needs, I help train / mentor them on whatever they might need. But I also do that for the other side as well. I did work. I started on Tranzactor, so I wasn't a web guy originally, so I still do help over there. And then also just, you know, anywhere there's something critical and big that needs worked on that other, you know, someone else has been working on can't get it. They bring me in, and I'm kind of the fixer, I guess
Tranztec:
Ross the closer, yeah. So how did you end up at Tranztec?
Russ:
Um, you know, so it's, it was kind of an interesting journey. So, I worked for a company called Plumb Line solutions, and they were the creators of, it's called salt. It was called Solomon software. But then it was Dynamics SL when I worked there, it was owned by Microsoft. So I worked on Microsoft there, and that transition to working at a trucking company, Bolt Holdings, they needed someone who had experience with Dynamics GP, which I had a little bit. And I went and wrote software for them for a bit. And then I actually originally had interviewed with IdSync, but they saw my background in trucking and brought me over to Tranztec instead.
Tranztec:
And you've been blissfully happy ever since.
Russ:
Yeah, I mean, I can't complain.. I mean, I do complain, but not too much.
I know it's the people. You know, the people are good. It's been good. We have a good team. We have fun. Little different now with covid, don't get to see everyone.
Tranztec:
Okay, so you were software developer now your director of backend, how did you get started in computers? Was this something you always wanted to do?
Russ:
Yeah, it was kind of a lifelong journey, or, uh, goal, I guess. You know, when you ask a lot of kids, what do you want to do, right, a five year old kid, and he's like, firefighter, police, superhero, that kind of stuff. I wanted to make video games. I've been playing video games since, I don't know, two, three years old. So it's always just interested me. So I want to make my own and kind of chart my career from there. I decided I didn't want to make video games, because I found out how they actually treat their employees typically, and so I got into regular software. But yeah, I've been tinkering with computers for I mean, forever, like I was tinkering with hardware, you know, starting in, like, late grade school, programming in middle school, and kept going ever since.
Tranztec:
What is one project you've worked on that you are pretty proud of?
Russ:
I would say probably the thing I've enjoyed the most, or look back on the best would be probably the ramp stuff, you know, because you probably, you've never seen it, but John, you remember the original ramp design, and so like, you know, switching that over to what it is today, we have a lot of flexibility. But also the part of it was getting it its own server. And you know, just the volume we do today. So like, right now we're doing about 600. Well, sorry, so the job servers are doing an average of 1000 a minute right now. So just being able to scale to that much from where we were. I, you know, I don't know how long ago that was just kind of something cool, and we still have a lot of room to go on it.
Tranztec:
That's very cool. Do you have any strong feelings about AI and how it's helped or hurt your job?
Russ:
I don't know. So I do use AI a lot. It's a very powerful tool, but it's just that it's a tool. So if you don't know how to use the tool, you know, like, let's say, someone who has no programming knowledge or junior Dev, and you blindly trust it, you're going to get bad results. And so it is, and it's gotten, in a very short amount of time, it's gotten much, much better. I think I'm not one of those, you know, doomsayers with, you know, Skynet, blah, blah, blah, because they clearly don't understand how AI works, because it's not like that at all. I do think it probably is going to cause harm to some fields. I think it already has caused harm for creative jobs like writing and such, so. But that's, I mean that happens with all kinds of tools. So it's how we use the tool, not necessarily what it is. It saves me a lot of time, which is great, like, you know, writing test code is very tedious, and it is very good at that, so it saves me a lot of time there, and it's cutting out something that's very tedious that I don't enjoy. And, you know, So now I'm spending less time doing what I don't want to do and getting more done, which is great.
Tranztec:
Let us talk about the Russ outside of Tranztec. Are you from the area?
Russ:
I was born and raised in Toledo. I went to Washington Local public schools and graduated from Whitmer.
Tranztec:
Did you go to college after Whitmer or were you ready to be a programmer?
Russ:
I had started college, and that's actually where I met my friend who married my wife's friend, just with the expense and things, I kind of stopped. I had stopped for a little bit and started working just to get some more cash so I could continue to pay for it. And then I just, I just never went back, so just started programming and never looked back. Well, started programming professionally,
Tranztec:
Do you have any siblings?
Russ:
I do, I have one sister. She is four years younger.
Tranztec:
Nice. I know just mentioned you are married. Tell us about your wife and how you met.
Russ:
So we've been together actually longer than I've been at Tranztec. Just a little bit; it was 2015 as well. We met through mutual friends. They were both college friends of ours, and they were getting married and so, you know, before their marriage, you know, doing all the planning and having stuff around and the so the group, we were all meeting each other and just started hanging out and found out, you know, We're into a bunch of similar things. And we got married October 2021. Used covid as an excuse to keep our wedding small.
My wife is a microbiologist, so mostly what she's currently doing, it's related to medical equipment. So it's, you know, testing, do these things actually clean and sanitize the medical equipment so that when they use it on you, it doesn't kill you.
Tranztec:
Very vital work. Do you have any pets?
Russ:
We have three cats. The two of them are just American Short Hair rescues. And then the other one is a purebred Maine Coon. Those are the really big ones. They're all female cats. But you know, the Maine Coons, they get up 18-20 poundish for a female, they're quite large.
Tranztec:
They are very cool looking cats. How is her temperament?
Russ:
She's pretty good. So she does have, it's kind of like a birth defect. She has parts of her spine. Well, her tailbones, which is kind of her spine, are fused together, so she has some, I think, nerve problems with that. So if you like mess with that, she's not happy, but otherwise she's super lovable cat. Pretty friendly for the most part. She doesn't look friendly. She scares a lot of people. But yeah, she's good, little dumb.
Tranztec:
Nice. Let's talk a little bit more about programming. Is there, like a specific language you like to program in? Do you do it as a hobby outside of work?
Russ:
So for the longest time, like vb.net, was probably my favorite language. I'd probably say still is. But now, you know, being on the web a lot, and then also just, you know, the way the world's changed a little bit with how what you can do on the web and what programs are. So JavaScript is definitely up there, probably top two now, just because of what it lets me do, and then I do some hobby work. Probably not those so much, but more so programming, like micro controllers, like raspberry pi, Arduinos, AC Magas, you know, that kind of stuff for random just sometimes, just projects, just to see what I can do with it. Some of the stuff's home automation, that kind of stuff.
Tranztec:
Do you have a smart house?
Russ:
Uh, not fully, no, um, I'm working on it. It's on it's one of my projects.
Tranztec:
That is interesting. What are some of the smart items you have set up?
Russ:
Uh, so mostly right now, a lot of it revolves around lighting and apply, like some of the appliance stuff, so and light switches as well. So like switches that can be activated either through an app, or you can do it through the Alexa devices. I have fan controllers. So, you know, sometimes you just have a light switch for a fan. Well, this actually has multiple buttons that have different fan speeds, but that's all also controlled remotely as well. So there's a system called home assistant. It's open source project, and I run that, and then that has an app where you can actually control all your connected smart devices. But the laundry machine and dryer, they both will announce throughout the house when they're done.
Tranztec:
Which one do you think has like changed your life the most?
Russ:
You know, I like the one that I probably use almost daily is the light control, like the my bedroom, for instance, it's, I think, about 10 by 18-20, foot, roughly, or maybe not. It's probably more than 10. I don't know it's big. So, it's a big, long room, and the light switches on the other side of the bedroom. So, like being able to just turn it off without getting up out of bed at night and have to walk across the room in the dark, you know, turning the lights off all throughout the house at night, so I'm not leaving all the lights on all night. That's probably been the one since I don't take a lot of notice of it because it's just become part of my life.
Tranztec:
So what do you like to do outside of Tranztec? You said a little bit of programming, obviously. But what else do you do outside of Tranztec?
Russ:
So I do, you know, I mean video games. We do like tabletop gaming. So that's everything from like board games to tabletop RPGs. I do some woodworking, you know, like building furniture, stuff.
Tranztec:
What's your favorite video game right now? Or overall?
Russ:
Ooh, the one I'm playing right now that I've been enjoying is Diablo IV. I don't know that would be my overall, like, all time favorite game, because there's probably a lot that fall into there, like, you know, Final Fantasy, 710, Diablo II, Skyrim, the Fallout games. So lot of RPG stuff.
Tranztec:
What is your go-to board game?
Russ:
Ooh, um, it varies depending on kind of the group and how much time I want to commit, but we'll do a lot of Red Dragon or Ticket to Ride, and Settlers of Catan.
Tranztec:
Those are Euro games. Will you describe the difference between those and American games?
Russ:
Euro games are always about victory points, so the difference to American Games and European games, most of the time is that American Games you eliminate players. So it's like, if you get out fast, you get out fast. Euro games are typically designed that everyone plays the whole game, and there's usually comeback mechanics and stuff. So it's a much more friendly to groups where American Games are like you, you know, you play Monopoly, you go bankrupt, and you sit around for three hours while everyone else finishes. There tends to be a lot more strategies to them too.
Tranztec:
Do you think you are competitive?
Russ:
Um somewhat, I used to be a lot more competitive, but I do try more now to be not so much. So depend on the playgroup I'm in. Some of the people aren't, maybe, as you know, into it or something. So just try to scale it back, just so everyone has fun.
Tranztec:
That is magnanimous of you. What kind of furniture have you made when you're woodworking?
Russ:
A lot of what I do is kind of towards storage solutions, stuff. So I've done shelving units just for the house. I'm currently building an entertainment stand for the basement, television game room, my computer desk. I actually built that myself. So trying to think of other ones I've done, those are that's mostly what I do. Is kind of just furniture, custom furniture for my own house to to fit needs where, you know, the commercial products just aren't there.
Tranztec:
What got you into that? Like, how did you know, oh, I can build this. Is this something you've always been able to do?
Russ:
Back when I was in about high school, my dad was kind of a general handyman, so he did plumbing, electrical and carpentry. So I picked up a lot of that, working with him. And then I actually did some wood shop in high school as well, where you did some of those kind of projects. And then it was just kind of something I picked up
Tranztec:
That's very cool. I am utterly unhandy, so it's always impressive to me when someone else can do that.
Russ:
I do most all of my own home maintenance and repair.
Tranztec:
Nice! Are you a collector of anything?
Russ:
So, got the bows, I prefer kind of the English long bow, more traditional.
I also am into watches somewhat so like wrist watches, yeah. But specifically mechanical watches, right? Not battery powered, yeah. So whether they be wind up or just automatics, where you move your arm, it's kind of the same thing with cars as well. Not that I have a problem with electric cars, but, like, you know, there's something about the V8 and the engineering. It just, I don't know the way it is. There's the mechanicalness of it kind of is, like interesting, gives it almost a personality.
John Bolitho:
Yeah, for sure, I definitely agree with you. I enjoy the mechanical watches, but a good Casio is never too far from me either.
Russ:
Yeah, I have been a little bit trying to learn how to repair them myself, because I have some older pieces. They're not terribly valuable, which, the problem is it would cost more to pay someone to service. So there are a lot of small screws in there.
John:
Are you working up to, like, a Speed Master or something?
Russ:
Um, you know, I don't know the speed Master is a watch I like, but one of the areas I've kind of been interested is more the micro brands. So the smaller independents, who are, you know, they don't make a lot of watches. They probably make, you know, a couple hundred and maybe a couple thousand a year, and just, they're, they're doing a lot more interesting design work there with the overall watch. But there is something to be said about some of the, you know, the classics, like the, you know, the Sea-Dweller, the Speed Masters. So I haven't really decided on one of those yet, although probably not Rolex, with the way buying them is today.
Tranztec:
Rolex seems like, you know, old money, old money dudes.
Russ:
Well they've started doing the thing with, like, if you want to buy A Rolex, you kind of have to have a relationship, and not just a knowing relationship. You have to like have spent money with their dealers to get what you want. And I don't play that kind of game.
Tranztec:
Is there a white whale watch out there for you?
Russ:
There used to be, but not so much anymore. I am interested in finding a piece that is made with a material called tantalum. It's a very dense metal that apparently is difficult to work with. So there's not a lot of people that work with this material, but I haven't really found one that's like, speaks to me yet.
Tranztec:
Very interesting.
Russ:
it's, you know how, like, something like tungsten, very heavy. It's something close to that.
Tranztec:
How many watches do you have?
Russ:
uh, that's a good question. I don't know, 15 to 20, probably. Some of more modern stuff. That's like micro brand, but I also have some of the classic stuff. So I have a few from a company, they're Russian, called Vostok. I have some vintage pieces there, but a lot of times, vintage pieces are much too small for me. Yeah, like a traditional men's watch used to be about 34 millimeters, and on my wrist that kind of looks like a women's watch.
Tranztec:
Do you have a current favorite one?
Russ:
Oh, my favorite is probably my Zelos, the probably the Hammerhead, I think.
Tranztec:
I have never heard of that brand.
Russ:
They're micro brand, so when they put out a watch there's probably about anywhere from about 50 to maybe 300 of a watch they make. So they don't make a whole lot of them. Zelos is probably my favorite brand right now. Just there's a lot of things they do, like they're a quick adjust that doesn't need a tool. They're just comfortable. They fit. They come with a bracelet that actually fits me.
Tranztec:
Do you have some bucket list items or things you want to do?
Russ:
Um, there's some traveling I'd like to do. We like to just drive and see, like we've done recently, Kentucky and Tennessee a couple times. And just kind of, I know we have fun just driving and so, like, we drive everywhere and find random things and go do it. We do a lot of the hiking stuff, so like Red River Gorge, Smoky Mountains. So I'd like to get out to out west. Probably hit the Grand Canyon. Maybe sometime wouldn't mind going over to Europe. Maybe some of the you know, the up more north, like Iceland, or those areas where they have, you know, a lot of the mountains, cool views up there, but might be a little bit delayed now.
Tranztec:
Yeah, babies will change things. When is the baby due?
Russ:
October. Early Octobers is our estimated date.
Tranztec:
What's the best new father advice you've been given so far?
Russ:
You know, I don't think anyone's really giving me advice. Everyone's just said it changes things. It's fun. And one person said they suck everything out of you. So, yeah.
John:
I always think that the typical answer is it goes by fast because it's like my daughter, she was just like, born, and now she's like, 20. It just like, in a blink of an eye.
Russ:
Yeah, definitely the pregnancy so far is going by faster than I would like is, because trying to get the house ready.
Tranztec:
Do you know if you are having a boy or girl? Are you going to make him or her a custom crib?
Russ:
um, yeah, it's a girl. And then I'm not building a custom crib. Maybe later on, or when they're a little bit older, they might, you know, maybe some custom bed or something, but that's kind of things right now. We're, like, getting the furniture, getting the room in order, because it's just been kind of a storage room right now, so, like, everything needs to get out of there so we can turn it into their room. And also child proofing. The house is a nightmare.
Tranztec:
How soon is it going to be before the Hellcat turns into a Honda Odyssey?
Russ:
Oh, it's been a debate. Been on my mind. Supposedly, you can fit a car seat back there, but I don't know.
Tranztec:
What is the fastest you have went in your Hellcat?
Russ:
Probably about a well, I assume we're talking about in a safe manner on a racetrack, probably about 150. It supposedly can do 200 but it's hard to find a place where you can do that.
Tranztec:
What is it like going 150 MPH?
Russ:
Um, so it's kind of scary in a way you wouldn't think it feels like 70 in a regular car. So it's like, you don't really realize how fast you're going. And that's kind of what's scary, because you're like, Man, this thing can really go.
Tranztec:
Yeah, that's really cool. Where'd you get to do that? Down in Norwalk?
Russ:
So I've done it there. I've done it up at Michigan International Speedway, and then somewhere else that I forgot. I actually did a whole track at Michigan International Speedway. It's pretty cool.
Tranztec:
Is it just bring your own car?
Russ:
So this one was actually part of so I don't know if they still do, but when you bought an SRT car, you got an included track day for free. And they had the cars there. So they had, you know, they had Hellcats, they had SRT eights, but they wouldn't let you drive your car for insurance purposes.
Tranztec:
That makes sense, so it was the same car but not your car.
When we go to do the fun fact is there something like the, you know, that didn't come up in conversation here? That's just like, you know, one time I accidentally killed a man in Vegas.
Russ:
I don't think I killed anyone in Vegas.
I haven't used a keyboard that's older than I am. Well, that's another area I love, the mechanical keyboards.
Tranztec:
I just was thinking about it, seems like you collect a lot of different things.
Russ:
Yeah, I have a lot of kind of hobby stuff, like so, like watches, especially vintage. You know, some of the, I guess the vintage Russian watches is kind of a weird thing. I do have firearms that have been used to probably killed someone; but it wasn't me.
Tranztec:
World War guns?
Russ:
Yeah, I have a US M1 Garand. That was probably used in World War Two. Funnily enough, the US government says I shouldn't have weapons of war, but they sold one to me. So whatever. Then I have a Mosin Nagant, which is, an old Russian Bolt action rifle that would have been used in World War One and probably a bunch of other wars. It's the longest serving rifle in history. I have a Swiss K 31 which, again, would have been like a World War One / Twoish weapon for them. So I'm sure those have probably done some things that I am not aware of.
Tranztec:
Were you specifically looking for weapons from like the world wars, or just as those caught your eye, they happen to all be around the same time?
Russ:
There's just kind of pieces that interest me for one reason or another. So like the M1 Garand, you know, if you're in a firearms, you there's this distinctive noise it makes when it ejects the clip. And also it's just has a historic relevancy to America, kind of where we are today. Also, my grandfather may have carried one he was in Korea. It was used there. Unfortunately, we don't know a whole lot about his time. He didn't talk about it much. And then, you know, like the Mosin Nagant was very early in my career. I do kind of like, you know, historical. It's all Woodstock. It's an interesting looking piece. They were also very cheap back then, not as much.
Tranztec:
Plus it is just freaking iconic.
Russ:
And, you know, I have, like, I have a PSL, which is a Romanian designated marksman rifle. It's a clone sort of the Dragunov, which, you know, is the Russian military rifle. Those are very expensive. Well, PSLs have gotten expensive too, but they're cheaper. It's just, I don't know, there's something about the look of it and the operation mechanism too. So that all interested me. So like the AK-47 for instance, right? Just the amount of abuse those guns are designed to withstand, and like you can just, you don't clean them, pour sand in them, they just work. So I have one of those as well, just because I don't know the mechanics of it are interest to me and I do like, you know, target shooting, so I enjoy that kind of stuff.
Tranztec:
Have you been able to shoot all of your guns?
Russ:
I've shot all but my Swiss K 31 because the ammo is difficult to find. Although Russian op ones are getting difficult to find too.
Tranztec:
Well, thanks, Russ. I know we're coming up to the end.
Russ:
I just got an interesting fact for you guys. So back a few years ago, oh, I was out in Oklahoma during what's probably a once in 100 year storm, like it produced multiple F-5 tornadoes on the ground. So in March, it was March 2015 so I was out there doing some work for a company that my boss at the time had wanted us to help out. I was doing networking too at the time, because I did some networking for them and programming. So we were, you know, wiring up the building for them, setting up their server rack, get done for the day, go to eat. And like, we're looking at the sky, and it's, it's kind of crazy. And there's an American flag on the on this fast food restaurant, and it's whipping in the wind, and it rips off the flagpole and blows away. And then a fire truck comes through, and the firemen are yelling, Get out of here. And we can see rotational clouds like over where our hotel is. So we're like, What the hell do we do? So we just started driving, and it's like we're driving and it's golf ball sized hail hitting the car, and we find this restaurant in the middle of nowhere. It was called, I Don't Care Bar, I think. And so, yeah, we just, we stopped, ran through golf ball sized hail into the restaurant and ate at this restaurant while at F-5s touched down around us. So kind of almost died then.
Tranztec:
I feel like I kind of remember that story, but I remember, like, something that involved, like a biker gang or the mafia or something, am I completely crazy? I remember you've had, like a bad experience with, like, rolling up into the wrong place where, they were like, you don't belong.
Russ:
Oh, God, yeah, that was while working at the same company. It was in Indiana, we went to a local bar, and it had tons of motorcycles outside, and the windows were barred, literally, like metal bars, and like, we walked in, I mean, it was like, Record scratch. It's all guys leather looking at us. We're all business casual, you know, our polos and khakis. I'm like, Uh-oh, but we made it out alive.
Tranztec:
Thank you very much for joining us. Russ, congratulations.
Russ:
Thanks. Have a good day. Bye.
Tranztec has made a donation to the American Cancer Society in Russ' name. The mission of the American Cancer Society is to improve the lives of people with cancer and their families through advocacy, research, and patient support, to ensure everyone has an opportunity to prevent, detect, treat, and survive cancer.
